Antiperspirants based on aluminum or aluminum/zirconium salts are known. These materials function as antiperspirants by plugging pores thereby blocking sweat release. Antiperspirant compositions containing aluminum or aluminum-zirconium salts tend to exhibit polymerization of these salts over time, forming species with molecular weights ranging from about 500 to about 500,000 g/mol. In general, lower molecular weight species have greater antiperspirant effect than higher molecular weight species. Without being bound by theory, it is believed that the smaller molecules more readily and more effectively occlude sweat pores, thereby producing the desired antiperspirant effect. Maintaining a relatively low molecular weight and avoiding excessive polymerization enhances the antiperspirant effect and moreover lowers the amount of antiperspirant salt which necessary to control perspiration.
Underarm deodorants control odor by eliminating the bacteria that cause odor. Conventional antiperspirant salts tend to be acidic in aqueous solution, a property which makes them effective bacteriocides, thereby providing a deodorant benefit, but which can also cause skin irritation.
There is a need for additional antiperspirant active agents that provide molecular weight complexes of a size capable of plugging pores to block sweat, that provide deodorant/antibacterial efficacy, and that are less irritating to the skin than the acidic salts in conventional antiperspirants.